A Multitude of Sins
Peninsula Weekly
Victims of child sexual abuse in government and church institutions have finally been given the chance to tell their stories at two major inquiries. LEE OPITZ looks at two men’s experiences at a Mt Eliza boys’ home in the 1960s. MORE than 5000 victims of child sexual abuse in institutions, or those who bore witness or knew of cover-ups of abuse in institutions, are expected to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse over the next year. While an interim report is expected in June next year, it will be years before the inquiry is complete. But no matter how long it takes, victims say it is time that those who abused them, and through their silence those who abandoned them, are brought to justice. "There is a quote that I heard somewhere: 'Go forth, speak the truth, and fear nobody'. And that's what I have to do," says Len, a victim of institutional abuse in the 1960s and '70s. "I will probably be dead by the time this inquiry is over. But they need to be held accountable for what they did." Close to half a million children in Australia in the 20th century were brought up in 'care' as state wards or foster children, or in orphanages, children's homes and other institutions. There are 194 state and church homes and orphanages listed in Victoria. How many will be mentioned in the current inquiry is unknown, but the infamous Bayswater Boys Home run by the Salvation Army, and Morning Star Boys Home in Mt Eliza, which was run by the Catholic Church, have already featured in testimony given. Len, not his real name, was a resident of both. He says being in jail was better. One of two children in what he describes as a "dysfunctional family", Len was 13 when he was surrendered into care by his mother and placed at Bayswater. "The sign on the street said it was a vocational training centre, but that was 'taurus excreta'. There was no training. There was just violence. "I ran away whenever I could and was made to pay when I got caught. They'd make me run in the quadrangle until I was exhausted. I can still hear my mates call out 'whatever you do, don't go down'. But they'd keep at it until I dropped and then they'd start on me with cricket bats. "Another time I was thrown into a cell with water all over the floor and given a wet blanket. I had no water, and no food. They tried to rape me and when I went to the matron she hit the back of my hands with a ruler until my knuckles bled. She told me never to tell lies again. "The last time I escaped I surrendered to Turana [youth justice centre]. I was covered in bruises from the beatings and I hoped that they would get a doctor for me and fix me up. But they did nothing, and sent me back to Bayswater and I copped it again." Virtually homeless, Len drifted in and out of the family home, in and out of the 'system', going bush for a while, finding a bed where he could and getting money from the proceeds of stolen goods. In 1962, he was sent to Morning Star Boys Home. "I had been sentenced for property offences and had already been in the system for a couple of years. I was with another young bloke and the first thing we saw when we pulled up in the escort van was two brothers belting the hell out of some poor kid. "The first night I was there I was put in a room by myself and was woken up about 4am by one of the brothers who had his hands under the covers and moving up my leg towards my groin. Because I challenged him he left me alone. But I knew I would be targeted. I'd seen it all before and I wasn't going to hang around." Len will give evidence to the inquiry in camera. He says it is too hard for him, and unfair on his family, to speak publicly. "I still have nightmares. They did it because they could. They had no training, had free rent and treated us like dogs. We were beaten and raped and described as the dregs, parasites, recidivists. I was paraded in front of an assembly and called a yellow, mongrel dog. You never forget that. I will take it to my grave." It is a familiar story to Wayne Davis, who on March 25 told the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations that he thought he was going on a holiday by the sea when he went to Morning Star in 1967. "The first thing that happened to me when I got there, I had lunch and then got punched in the mouth by a brother and told to dig. You were basically a human cultivator. You went six across, six back, up and down. I stopped and said: 'What do you want me to do now, brother?' He punched me again in the mouth. "They used to sneak up behind us, the brothers, and punch us in the kidneys until we urinated blood. After about the first two weeks I became of the opinion that I had to get out of there. Two other guys and I tried to escape, and we were caught by other trainees at the centre — who were given extra privileges for catching us — and they bashed us. We were locked in this dormitory ... a brother came in and bashed me and sexually abused me. He made me masturbate him." One morning Davis and four others escaped again. By 10 that night they were in custody. "When they [police] opened my hands and put them on the fingerprint paper the blood went everywhere because of the blisters all over my hands. They could not believe that, and then we told them about the kidneys. They lifted all our shirts. Every one of us had bruised kidneys. We did not mention the sexual assault ... I could not." With the support of police, an inquiry was launched into the allegations of abuse at Morning Star. "I was told that everything that was said was believed and would be acted upon. I know that it was not and that's what is destroying me. Every time I read or see on TV that some kid killed themselves because of abuse by people of all denominations and institutions, I feel guilty for not doing enough." Davis told the inquiry he was an alcoholic by the time he was 16. "I've been a gambling addict. I hardly have any friends; I cannot keep friendships. I cannot hold down jobs. I was abused sexually, physically and mentally at Morning Star." Morning Star Boys Home closed in September 1975. The property is now a boutique hotel and functions venue. The Victorian inquiry hearings have been completed and a report is expected to be tabled in Parliament by September 30.
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